FIREFLY

A major line-up change with the replacement of Byron as lead vocalist. This sounds like a thunder. Something like the departure of Gillan from Purple or Gabriel from Genesis. I have to admit that Lawton does a good job here.

On top of that, this is the best Heep album for quite a long time. Energetic, hard rocking like in the golden era. it was quite a good surprise for me.

The first poor track of this album is the rock ballad :"Wise Man". I guess the intention was to please the FM audience ... "Rollin' On" is good blues/rock song like Purple could have produced (Hughes / Coverdale era). Great guitar solo.

"Sympathy" is quite good : great ryhtmic section, good vocals and great harmonies. This sounds like a track from ancient ages ... "Firefly" starts like a symphonic and mellow tune and then turns out as a rockin' Heep song with a great (but too short) guitar solo. The song then returns to the mellowish style. Not bad, though.

Three bonus tracks on the remastered edition if you want to prolong your experience. "Crime of Passion" is another blues/rock oriented song (again, Glenn Hughes could have written this one). There is also a duplication for "Do You Know" and "A Far Better Way" is another good but non essential track.

Of course, this is not an essential album in the music history (nor even in the Heep's one), but at least the Heep rebounds a bit with this effort. Three stars.

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